Break Away
by Numbuh 212
Summary: 50 sentences about Hoagie and Fanny as they try to figure out life, each other, and themselves. Oneshot. Number 6 of my 100 Theme Challenge.


6. Break Away

**1 – Mortal**

She stomped around in her boots and shouted out orders, and so it wasn't until she got hurt that Hoagie remembered how very human she was.

**2 – Broken**

Fanny toddled over to where Hoagie was building with the blocks, holding out the doll pleadingly, and the preschool teacher looked on in amazement as the little boy expertly repaired it and handed it back to her.

**3 – Vanish**

She turned around – to accept or to deny, she didn't know – but he was already gone.

**4 – Rain**

She knows that he would share his umbrella with her if she asked, but she knows that he knows that she's not asking and he's not offering, and so they go their separate ways, each of them cursing the weather.

**5 – Ocean **

They'd gotten a little . . . distracted, and he didn't notice that the autopilot had carried them over the Pacific until the engine started sputtering and finally quit.

**6 – Tense**

"Numbuh 86 was always the one who did that sort of thing," says Numbuh 1, and Hoagie's stomach lurches as he realizes that to them, she is already gone.

**7 – Soon**

One night she vanishes, leaving only a one-word note tucked inside a large children's book – _all children, except one, grow up,_ he reads, and feels the ache inside of him deepen.

**8 – Why**

"What does _your _dad do?" asked the other first graders, and only Hoagie understood when she burst into tears and ran out of the room.

**9 – Winter**

She hated snow, because it made her feel cold and wet and sick and vulnerable, but mostly because it meant that _he_ would inevitably show up at their door with a sheepish grin and a snow shovel.

**10 – Fallen**

He watched out his window as she slowly picked herself up again, and debated offering to help, but he knew in his heart that she would never let him.

**11 – Storm**

The rain poured and the thunder boomed and the lightning flashed and all of it was just background noise to the silent battle in the treehouse.

**12 – Door**

She slammed it in his face, but neither of them moved, standing on opposites sides of the huge canyon between them.

**13 – Flash**

He woke up with a gasp, the sheets tangled and his pillow wet with tears, but all he could remember was a shrill voice and a glimpse of red hair.

**14 – Wait**

Like time and tide, she waits for no man, and so it is luck for him – she thinks – that he is still a boy, awkward and gangly and never growing up.

**15 – Shrine**

He watched her stare up at the statue of Numbuh 0 in awe, and both of them wondered if there would be anyone to remember them when they were gone.

**16 – Black**

She walked into her office, but before she could turn on the light, something jumped out at her from the darkness – twenty minutes later she had him cornered on the whizbee deck and was threatening him with a mop.

**17 – Lost**

Even in the times when she didn't want to be found, he was there with a flashlight and a sympathetic ear.

**18 – Cell**

He stared at her, and she stared back, and in that moment everything changed.

**19 – Villain**

She swears, if he makes one more crack about having an outlaw for an in-law, she's going to call the whole thing off and move to Wyoming.

**20 – Road**

She trudged away, head hanging, and he took one last look, every inch of him screaming for her to come back, and then turned to join his team.

**21 – Weep**

He's never seen her cry, and he never _would_ see her cry – she has no time for awkward boys, shuffling their feet and offering tissues and sympathy and something like compassion.

**22 – Blind**

"You've got about two seconds to let go of my face and back off, Gilligan," she snapped, but Hoagie, undeterred, smugly pointed out that she _had _recognized him.

**23 – Pact**

"Let's never grow up," she said on their very first day of training – now as he looks at her, he wonders if she remembers that at all.

**24 – Flight**

He recognizes this feeling – it's the same sensation he got the first time his father took him up in a plane.

**25 – Hard**

Hoagie knew that after this, defusing an atomic bomb would be a piece of cake.

**26 – War**

They had known there would be fighting, and people choosing sided, but neither of them had ever dreamed that they would end up on opposite sides, and when it happened it took them both by surprise.

**27 – Deed**

"I believe this belongs to me," said Father, flourishing the paper, and Hoagie held her as she shook with rage and despair.

**28 – Unknown**

They don't know what will happen after decommissioning, or even what might happen next week, but they know right now, and right now, that's okay with them.

**29 – Deep**

Their daughter has been disappearing a lot lately and they know they should talk to her about it, but something far inside both of their memories tells them to let it be.

**30 – Sudden**

The kiss took her completely by surprise, and she made a mental note to yell at him about it later – she didn't like being caught off-guard.

**31 – Dread**

There's a small tangle of foreboding building in the pit of his stomach, but he smiles and waves and hopes and prays that he is just being paranoid, and that everything will turn out fine.

**32 – Burn**

The flames crackled, and he raced to gather his notes and sketches, but then dropped them all with a pained expression and dashed toward a very familiar scream.

**33 – Clock**

He's always sort of known that in the end it would come down to this, but as the seconds tick away he realizes that he has no idea what he should do.

**34 – Words**

_Sticks and stones,_ she says to herself over and over again, but at the same time she keeps hearing those other words, louder and sharper and infinitely more convincing.

**35 – Fast**

He ran, he sped, he _flew_, but he still couldn't get there in time to stop the laser headed straight for her.

**36 – Three**

It had always been him and Nigel and Abby, ever since the beginning, and so was it any surprise that when he became a third wheel, he was at somewhat of a loss as to where to go?

**37 – Place**

She slipped into the desk in front of his, and he thanked whoever was out there for alphabetical seating.

**38 – Irony**

She smiled strangely and said, "Would you understand if I said I've been growing up?"

**39 – Sky**

It's only when he takes her in the air that she feels truly grounded.

**40 – Closet**

The elevator stopped suddenly, but the doors didn't open, and Hoagie suddenly got a sickening feeling of déjà vu.

**41 – Real**

He's felt this sort of thing before, or at least something like it, but he knows that this time, it's real.

**42 – Fair**

"I'll tell you right now, if you try to win me one of those ridiculous stuffed animals, I'll throw you in the dunk tank."

**43 – Knot**

She wiggles her wrists, and as the rope falls off she smiles sadly at his never-ending hope.

**44 – Low**

One more point, she knows, and she wouldn't have made it, and so she grudgingly thanks him for the extra practice.

**45 – Well**

"Stop laughing and get me out of here, you idiot," she screams, but Hoagie has to sit down and catch his breath before he can do anything.

**46 – Token**

"We, um, need a redhead," he said desperately, and she rolled her eyes, but agreed to join them anyway.

**47 – Ugly**

When he hears the story of Henrietta, his mind goes to another girl who's very proud to be such, and the thought of Numbuh 86 turning into a boy is so disturbing that it almost makes him lose his appetite.

**48 – Lure**

He never could figure out what it was that made her so enticing.

**49 – Drink**

"It's from that guy," said the bartender; when she looked, he winked, and she pushed the root beer away and left.

**50 – Dust**

He hears the news, and his meatball sandwich turns to dust in his mouth.

The End 

**Notes:**

6 – Tense: This is the reason why I picked this theme set, because I was flipping through the notebook where I collect them, and when I saw this word this sentence just jumped out at me.

7 – Soon: I think that this one is my favorite out of all of them. If you don't know what book the quote is – get thee to a library, and fast!

24 – Flight: Borrowed (with amendment) from Pheobonica's ASOUE Kit x Dewey sentences.

27 – Deed: So, um, that's supposed to be Father playing the villain in one of those old-timey dramas where the bad guy with the big mustache somehow gets the heroine's property after her father dies, in case you couldn't tell. I know it's kinda random, but that's the first thing I thought of, and I liked it.

37 – Place: It seems like I'm the only one to have noticed this. Why is that?

40 – Closet: And this sentence is the whole reason I did another one of these. It just popped into my head one day, and I knew I had to do another one.

Hope you enjoyed them. If I get inspiration, I might even do another one, but we'll see.

Numbuh 212


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